ABOUT COOKIES ON THIS SITE

We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners.

Your Privacy

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Performance Cookies

Targeting Cookies

When you visit any web site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalised web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary CookiesAlways Active

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance CookiesAlways Active

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.

Please be informed that Hubspot, in its capacity of service provider, collects your data on an anonymized basis. If you however submit a form via Hubspot, you acknowledge and agree that your personal data will be used for marketing purposes.

Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Please be informed that Hubspot, in its capacity of service provider, collects your data on an anonymized basis. If you however submit a form via Hubspot, you acknowledge and agree that your personal data will be used for marketing purposes.

When you withdraw your consent, we will not load the targeting scripts anymore. New tracking will thus not be captured anymore. To remove what was captured before your withdrawal, you need to remove those cookies manually yourself through your browser.

The story of a Belgian in the USA. How it all started.

My story begins the very first week I joined Delaware Consulting in the Kortrijk offices (Belgium). Just like everyone starting his first job right out of college, I had no idea what to expect. Other than a few weeks working as an intern at an accounting firm, filing VAT returns and booking invoices, I had no real-world experience. When you are in such a position, you make crazy decisions without realizing it. Decisions which may impact the next years, and perhaps even the remainder of your career and life. This is one of those stories. The story of a Belgian somehow ending up far away from home, in the United States of America.

Pushed beyond my comfort zone

One of the first days at the office, our team lead sat down with me, and asked if I was OK with traveling for work. Up to that point, I had never traveled outside of Belgium for longer than a day. It was just something my parents and friends never did. Obviously, I was caught off guard, and answered I would love to travel. I didn’t really know what ‘travel’ meant back then, but I got staffed on a project involving a decent amount of international work.

Everyone had failed to tell me that, as an SAP FICO consultant, I mostly would have to travel when my colleagues were either done or finishing up. So I ended up staying in a hotel for the first time, alone. Figuring out how airports work and flying for the first time, alone. Ordering a taxi for the first time in a language that did not come close to any language I speak, alone. While all of that may sound ridiculous or funny now, these were some of the most scary experiences for me than anything else I had ever done up to that point in my life.

But the result was clear: I found out I like traveling, and visiting new places. Putting myself beyond my comfort zone was something I tried to do more, and Delaware Consulting gave me those opportunities with the type of projects I was getting staffed on. Traveling through Europe, and a one-off time to the USA and Canada, was fun and challenging, but over the years I was growing eager for some real change.

‘I want to move.’

One day, while I was packing up to go home after work, I noticed there was still light in the HR office. I decided to walk in, and without much preparation I told the HR director that ‘I want to move.’ ‘Move where?’, he asked. To which I replied: ‘Anywhere, out of Belgium.’ ‘Ok, let’s discuss it and we’ll make that happen’, he said. And without really realizing what I had just started, I left.

Some weeks later, the HR director talked to me about some possibilities. It would take some time (months) to finalize things, but it seemed like there were some interesting paths for me. Word travels within the Delaware Consulting organization, and I received a message from our USA offices in Alpharetta (Atlanta, GA), that they could use my SAP FICO skills in the organization, if I would be interested in moving to the USA. I had thought about the USA, without really recognizing it as a real possibility. I knew it would be very hard to get a work visa from the US government and I talked with our US colleagues about the specific challenges. Nevertheless, we agreed to go ahead and see how it would go. Mylawyer contacted me and together with the HR offices in both Belgium and the USA, we started a procedure that would create piles of paperwork and consume hundreds of hours from people on both sides of the ocean.

It would be the start of an incredible story. The story of me, Nigel, a Belgian in the USA since 2013.